Why China Is Investing So Much Money in Moroccan Factories

14 hours ago 1

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Morocco is linked to Europe on the strength of its auto sector and a trade pact. But its status as a connector country has become precarious in the trade war.

President Xi Jinping and Crown Prince Moulay Hassan sit together on either end of a red sofa in a formal curtain-lined room.
President Xi Jinping of China meeting in November with Crown Prince Moulay Hassan in Casablanca, Morocco.Credit...Li Xueren/Xinhua, via Getty Images

Patricia Cohen

By Patricia Cohen

Patricia Cohen, who writes extensively about global trade, reported from London.

May 7, 2025, 12:00 a.m. ET

When Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, returned from the Group of 20 summit in Brazil last November, he made a stopover in Casablanca, where he was greeted with dates and milk, the traditional welcome for honored guests, and a meeting with Crown Prince Moulay Hassan of Morocco.

The brief visit was a sign of the growing economic ties between China and Morocco, the largest automotive manufacturing hub in Africa and an increasingly crucial conduit for Chinese companies looking to get around tariffs for exports headed to Europe.

In the last couple of years, investment in Morocco from Chinese energy and electric vehicle and battery producers has exploded, with $10 billion directed to that industry, according to one estimate. Dozens of Chinese companies involved in automobile manufacturing are setting up shop in Morocco, including the battery maker Gotion High-tech.

The boom is a sign of the growing importance of countries like Morocco, which has a free-trade agreement with the European Union, that serve as connective nodes in a global trading system that is remaking itself around an obstacle course of high tariffs, trade restrictions and geopolitical rivalries.

Using their status as low- or no-tariff zones has required connector countries to thread a narrow path, exploiting opportunities for trade while minimizing the risk of alienating the West or China. But now that the Trump administration has kicked the legs out from under the global trading system, that road has become much more precarious.

Image

Renault, which operates this factory on the outskirts of Tangier, has been producing cars in Morocco for two decades.Credit...Associated Press

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Read Entire Article